Freya
by Queenmunchkin
Summary: Set after DS9 in the year 2383, the story follows the experiences of two fleet special forces marines.
1. Prologue

The indigo glow of the dying sun bathed the surface of Gorranic II as the reluctant dawn broke across its bone dry surface. Steadily from the gloom it revealed the range known by the locals as the 'Spine of the world' and, nestled against it, the Dominion command facility that was the world's sole habitation.

Gorranic base was ugly and squat, practical without so much as a gesture in the direction of ornamentation. The Jem'Hadar that lived there under the watchful eye of their cloned master were hardly inclined to change that, far more likely to be found playing war games among the craggy slopes than painting things.

But today the base was as clean as it would ever be; every last touch that could be made towards presentability had been made. Because even now a very special ship was landing on the pad. A very special ship containing their living god, one of the founders themselves.

The visit was no accident, it had been long planned and awaited, a new regional commander to take responsibility for this busy juncture in the logistical effort that the invasion of the Alpha quadrant required. Indeed were it not for an urgent event nearby then the Founder would have been here a week ago.

Hookum the Vorta and his First were standing slightly in advance of the rest of the small garrison detachment, their anxiety as well masked at their faces could manage. As the ramp lowered it seemed the world itself held its breath, even the constant southerly winds ceasing for the arrival of the world's most important visitor.

This particular founder was hardly run of the mill either. They were one of the Dominion's very best, a virtuoso of planning, routing and scheduling. Single-handedly this one had built the structures that allowed the dissemination of the cloned troops to all the corners of the expanding tyranny. And now he was here to take over, to set up a base to coordinate the logistical path to the end of the federation.

Suddenly there he was his feet on the smooth surface of the landing pad, his expressionless face neither approving nor rebuking. It was a great moment for Hookum. His last great moment.

From the mountainside overlooking the base a single pulse of coherent energy came down. Even as the garrison watched it sped unerringly to their god and in a conflagration of flame. A thunderclap echoed, a shattering noise that ended a dream and suddenly before their eyes their god died, his fluidic form superheated and separated even from its own molecules. It was a day that would live in infamy.

On the hillside Chris Moondark let his parched and blistered lips break into a self-congratulatory smile. Even as he did he was setting the rifle to destruct and gathering the last of his escape gear for the flight that was already heartbeats late. The Jem'Hadar would chase him now, working them to death to try and avenge the slight that his shot had stained their honour with. It would take all he had to force his undernourished, sun beaten body into a fast enough motion to give him the head start he needed to escape the hounds.

But a matter of a few days run away his way off world was carefully hidden and if he made it then he could finally put this purgatory behind him.

OOOOO

Lieutenant Ki'Rah Macpherson was a half-Klingon half Human with the mixed blood she tend to lean towards the Klingon physiology, she had the extra organs and ribs that a full blood had but her blood was red if a little darker than full human. Her mother was Klingon and her father was a Scottish human. This meant that in her DNA was someone with a natural ability at head butting people mixed with her forehead ridges meant she hit really hard.

Ki'Rah had just began her new posting on the Claymore, as the marine detachment XO, to find out her new CO was on a mission with absolutely no back up. He had even left orders for her predecessor not to follow and help if he got into trouble. She thought that was a load of bull, there was no way he'd make it back from deep behind enemy lines without some form of back up.

As the orders were in the name of the previous MXO she decided to plead ignorant and ignore them. So she began rapidly setting up a rescue/grab party to go and get him back. He had left several days ago so time was precious; she got a team together from her new men and a crazy but kick ass pilot willing to go behind enemy lines.

As they flew to the planet that her CO was on Ki'Rah read through all the scant information she had on the planet and his mission, she also read through his very impressive personal file. A lot of the information was classified beyond her clearance but what she could read impressed her very much.

He was from the Gael Cluster which had recently been added to the United Federation of Planets. There wasn't much information from that time other than he had been an excellent warrior and leader gaining many medals for his work. He brought those skills with him to the marines and from what she could tell he was sailing through the ranks.

The shuttle cloaked as they got closer to the planet, they didn't want to be detected by the enemy. As they passed through the atmosphere Ki and her men checked their weapons. The other five men and one woman grinned back at her when she asked if they were ready, they were all born marines and always ready for a fight especially with the Jem'Hadar that had been plaguing this quadrant. The war was at its height and every victory was hard fought for.

They knew where he was going to land so they made sure they landed nearby his location. The ship stayed cloaked with its two pilots inside while Ki'Rah and her people jogged lightly towards the location of Moondark's ship. The planet really was a dry, dusty hellhole with nothing in its favour. It was the sort of place you never visited unless to destroy a bad guy hold.

They carefully crawled up the slope behind which Moondark's ship was sitting. Careful not to skyline themselves they looked down into the shallow valley to see if there was any sign of their missing CO.

They arrived just in time to see his ship was destroyed and he was turning bringing his gun to bear on the Jem'Hadar following up rapidly behind him. Ki'Rah had seen the determined but hopeless look on his face. She knew he planned to take as many down as he could before they took him down. This wasn't a man to surrender or give up easily, she smiled thinking she would like working with him.

She signalled the order to fire once the Jem'Hadar was in range. Lying just off the crest of the hill Ki'Rah carefully sighted along her gun biding her time until they entered her weapons range. Once in range she began firing on the enemy each shot measured to kill with one hit.

She saw Moondark turn to look at the hill briefly before he turned back to the enemy coming towards him.

From the moment Chris had seen the ruin that had been his cloaked escape ship he knew he was stuffed. Some form of tectonic activity had closed the defile it had been hidden in and that had been that. From then on it was merely a question of making sure that there wasn't enough left of him to identify. Well that and killing a few more of the vat bred fools that followed him.

So he had set the charges on his webbing and found some cover. These guys were hardly the best that the Dominion had to offer so he figured he could probably take down at least the first wave. Especially since the peculiar light here made their cloaking stuff ripple.

He had just perfected his bead on the lead one, unmistakably the First, when the man was snatched form his feet and thrown down by what could only be a federation pulse weapon.

Unwilling to count his chickens Chris turned to check and sure enough the camouflaged force that was coming in like so many cavalrymen of the American western were wearing what he knew to be federation gear and using the tac calls of his own unit. His own unit that was operating under strict instructions not to interfere.

But this was not the time to argue. Instead Chris drew another bead on the shocked Jem'Hadar and set to whittling away the chase party as efficiently as he could. Hard words could wait.

Ki watched as the Jem'Hadar took cover after they had recovered from their initial shock. They hadn't expected any others to be fighting them and more importantly they hadn't expected their cloaks to be seen.

Ki's team effectively took down most of the enemy force with help from their CO before they made cover. She bided her time watching and waiting for one of the enemy to pop his head out of cover long enough for her to kill him.

"Chunk send them a grenade" she ordered knowing they would be there all day if they didn't get them out for their cover. She shot another Jem'Hadar but she thought she had just clipped him rather than killed him.

PFC 'Chunk' Edwards loaded his grenade launcher and swiftly sent a barrage of grenades into where the Jem'Hadar had taken cover. The ones that survived found themselves with no cover as the explosions from the grenades demolished the piles of rocks they had been hiding behind disappeared.

As they scrambled from the weapons fire and for other cover one by one they were picked off until they were all dead. As her team swept the area from signs of others Ki'Rah stood, her painted face looking for her new CO.

She found him, sunscorched, malnourished, blistered and furious, his weapon still hazing form the heavy use. "Who Are You?" he rasped through a throat that obviously had seen better days.

"I'm Lieutenant Ki'Rah Macpherson" she introduced herself handing him her waterbottle "I'm your new XO" she explained.

She heard a rock scrape behind her; she knew none of her men were there. She pushed Moondark out the way as she turned barely avoiding the flash of the knife. She grabbed the all but invisible arm in her left hand as her right wrapped around when she rightly guessed the head was. With a sharp yank she broke the Jem'Hadar's neck and let his limp body fall to the floor.

Chris could have kicked himself, letting his anger ride over his professionalism like that. Sure he had been awake for more hours than he could remember, dehydrated for most of them and his last meal was hardly going to provide any of the energy he had just used running. But still, it wasn't the sort of mistake he made.

But all of that became more than a little irrelevant as he hit the floor, his weakened body finally cashing in its chips and calling its markers. Darkness swept in.

"Kick your ass" he muttered as he slumped down

Ki'Rah chuckled "sure you will Sir". With the help of Chunk she got him up and onto her shoulders. She might have been short but she was a lot stronger than she looked. They all bugged back to their cloaked ship watching in case there were any other Je'Hadar but it appeared they had killed all the chase party. 

She left Moondark to the team medic and went to talk to the pilots. "Right gentlemen we have the package let's get the hell out of here" she ordered them.

She went back through to were their medic was checking their fallen CO. "He's in need of some water, food and rest but other than that he's fine" he told her as he held a wet cloth to his sunscorched face.

It was only two hours until they would reach their ship at the speed the pilots were doing. Ki'Rah sat down and watched as the medic tended Moondark injuries. She wondered what he was going to do when he came around. She had a nasty feeling that a bollocking would be the least of her worries.


	2. Chapter 2

This is Co-written with Ar-Kaos.

* * *

Chris held the man's whole body up into the air for a few moments before bringing it hard down across his knee, snapping the unfortunate's spine with a roar of defiance.

That the man he broke was wearing some barely cured pelts as his only clothing would have been a lot odder if he was the only one so dressed. In fact all the people even now standing in a ring in the snow around the fighters were similarly attired. Their long haired heads and bulky forms reflecting the flickering light of the fire that the pair had just been fighting around.

The world was known to the locals as simply that, The World, they were so far pre warp flight that there was an interdiction on the system scheduled for the next four hundred years. Not that that had stopped the people that Chris's team was chasing coming here.

So the Commandos had been sent in and were even now spread out in a reconnaissance web looking for traces of the insurgents hiding in this early Iron Age society. This sometimes necessitated the occasional act of brutality just to ensure that they weren't asked too many questions that they couldn't possibly answer.

Ki sat silently fuming off to one side with the other fur clad women, they believed that women shouldn't fight that was man's business and forbidden to all women. This really annoyed Ki'Rah, sure she could find out information from the gossipping women but if she had to bow and scrape to one more man she might literally bite his head off.

Especially if it was her chauvinistic CO who she was sure loved her have to act this way. He seemed to believe that women were weak and feeble and should be protected. His attitude had caused numerous arguments between the pair which left the rest of their team walking on eggshells around the fuming woman.

The last argument they had just before this mission Ki'Rah had put him in sickbay again but this time was worse than the previous times and nearly had her up on charges until he had come round and explain that he was training her. Training her he had said she would have killed him if it wasn't for Becca dragging her away. Even though she kept kicking his ass he refused to treat her like he did the men under his command. This had caused Ki to break most of the bones in both her hands as she took her frustration out on the wall in her office.

Shortly after they had got back from her first mission on the Claymore Becca, Ki's cousin, had joined her team. Ki'Rah was very glad for this as she seemed to be the only one able to defuse her temper. Ki always had a bad temper but she had learned to control it as she had gotten older but something about her CO destroyed those controls she had built up leaving her in a foul mood all of the time. Becca had stayed behind on the ship which Ki hated. She could have done with her friend to talk to.

She was half listening to the chattering women while she studied the toes of her fur boots. "Kesha why haven't you had children yet?" one of the girls of the group asked her.

Ki'Rah/Kesha sighed it was all they seemed to talk about, babies, mating, who would mate who. "Perhaps the ancestors do not wish it" she replied.

Aba one of the elder women of this group nodded at her words "perhaps you both argue so much because your spirit totems battle, you must let yours be defeated if you are to conceive" she explained.

The young girl giggled "but he's so strong". Ki'Rah refrained from rolling her eyes at the young girl and managed to stop herself saying you can have him.

Her 'mate' was Captain Moondark her CO. She was the only female of the team and with the backward ideas of these people she had been forced to pretend to be his mate. With his combat skills and build he had quickly wooed all the women in this group and similar groups. In a warrior society like this he was what they looked for in their own mates.

It was going to cause her problems too; it wasn't unknown for a woman to challenge another for her mate. The men didn't get involved in what they saw as women's business. It wasn't that she couldn't fight; she'd just have to watch that she didn't show off her skills and land them all in trouble.

She tuned back into the women's chatter. Aba leaned over to her "I have some herbs that will help suppress your totem" she whispered.

Ki'Rah had to appear eager all these women seemed to want to do was feed and please their men and have babies. "Thankyou Aba" she said making sure she sounded happy for the woman's help, although she'd throw the herbs as soon as she could.

It was dark and getting cold, not that she noticed it much. She turned as the voices of the men returning from their 'business' could be heard. Next would come the drinking and celebrating while the women served them.

As the men past the women stood and shuffled in behind them. Ki'Rah made sure she kept her eyes on the snow, she was sure the look she was trying to hide would get her a clip around the ear from any of the men.

She was desperately hoping they'd find those they were after soon before she had to kill someone, or do something more to not blow their cover before their mission was complete.

The feasting lodge was the least crude building in the whole camp, near enough the only one that couldn't be picked up and packed onto Yukka back within a matter of minutes. Instead it was a wood earth and turf affair, now mostly covered with snow but for where the hole-chimney cut through the roof.

The insides, lit by the long central firepit seemed almost scorchingly hot after the winter winds outside and almost immediately the newest occupant's skin became covered in a light sheen of sweat.

There were no tables here, no chairs, only pelts and hides piled high and strewn about where their owners had left them. Amongst this homage to bronze age furniture were the wooden vessels that passed for everything from plates to washbasins to chamber pots.

Gradually the men filed in, their tanned, weather beaten faces a variety of expressions form jocular to outright peeved. A new champion had claimed the hero's portion of tonight's feast and taken the life of the previous man. That the now cooling body had also been the one that had towered over their women when he demanded they 'serve' him and over them when he demanded 'favours' was not missed on any. That some had made a great many enemies supporting him was lost on even fewer.

One thing was for certain the bloodshed in Tralog's camp was far from over. The only questions now were when and on whose side would the newcomers fight.

For he had not come alone, with him had come his 'cousin' a far smaller man who had only yesterday taken a man's arm off at the shoulder by some artifice he called an art and the man's wife.

Truly if she had been married to anyone less formidable there would have been even more trouble in the camp. Already the spirit in her eyes and the lines of her form under her furs had caught the eye of more than one man. The sinuous grace of her walk that spoke of wild dangers and the way that the 'cousin' deferred to her all combined with her strange manners and exotic accent to make her seem almost like some spirit bound to the champion, no doubt as part of some hero tale.

This Moon Dark took his place by Tralog, and sent his plate with his woman for the hero cut, the finest piece of the animal the hunt had claimed. In the heat of the lodge she was wearing less fur and showing more skin. More eyes watched her than the camp's new champion.

Not all of them were male. Near the uncle of that cooling body was his daughter, a bountiful, curvaceous blond by the name of Felrigga. And her eyes were narrowed in a hate every bit as intense as her cousin's had been. Everything she and her father had built, the web of favours, fear and alliance was unravelling fast, the prices she had paid, upright and laid down, were all being rendered worthless. But there was a way to win things back, and with it her own pride.

Felrigga was not a woman used to being ignored, or scorned, yet when this newcomer woman had arrived both had happened. First the man she had been 'enticing' had turned from her, literally forgetting she was here as he had watched this spirit woman arrive, a brief flash of thigh as she had hidden something more than enough to turn his eyes forever away from the blond. Then when she herself had approached the woman, intent on teaching her her place in the pecking order, the impudent woman had done little more than to snort and pass her by, not even bothering to answer her question let alone give the appropriate submissive greeting.

And now there was another reason to hate, one look at the man mountain that was the tribe's new champion had Felrigga practically panting in hunger. Men did not come more splendid, from the ripple of his muscles that followed his every motion to the flawless smile and the complete lack of blight scarring he literally was a god of men.

Nobody else could possibly be worthy of her.

By the time they had reached the feasting lodge the walk had managed to cool Ki'Rah's anger. She was back to the cold professional she was. She did wonder what it was about this man that managed to break years of careful practice to remain calm and ignore her Klingon side.

As she entered the lodge she took down her hood her hand brushing her bare forehead, she did miss her ridges but it was necessary to have her forehead ridges removed for this mission so that she fitted in with the locals. She followed Aba to where their furs were placed near each other; she shed her jacket, gloves, outer boots and outer trousers. She was dressed in a lot less now and a lot less that she liked but it was the only way to not melt in the heat of the sweat lodge. A simple short hide skirt and matching top with hide slippers was all she now wore. The other women were similarly shedding their outer clothing and dressed in the same sort of clothing. Although the elder women had longer skirts and the unattached woman wore shorter.

She silently padded over to where Chris sat beside the Chief and took his plate she also picked up the plate of the Chief. Helgara, the Chief's wife, had been overseeing the production to the food while the men fought so Ki helped by carrying the Chief's plate to her.

She smiled her thanks, she was near due with the Chief's fourth child, she was finding this one harder than the others but she couldn't show any weakest to either the other women or the men in case they took it as a bad omen or a chance to get rid of her. Somehow this strange woman had guessed what only a select few of the female elders knew. Aba had told Helgara to watch this young woman that she would help her when she needed it the most.

Helgara made sure that she piled Ki's plate high with the choicest pieces of the beast. She passed her a cup full of the sweet mead she made as well; she liked the young girl and her spirit. She thought she would keep that scheming Felrigga on her toes; Helgara was just waiting for a chance to banish the minx from the tribe.

Ki nodded her thanks and moved back towards where the new champion sat talking with the Chief. She knelt at the champion's feet and held out the bowl and cup for him to take. As he took them she turned to leave and head back to where some of the rest of the women were now preparing to eat after their men had been served.

She moved over to where Helgara and Aba were quietly talking, she made sure she walked a little more heavy footed so that the heard her coming. Whatever they had been talking about they were suddenly were discussing the benefit of using some herb during child birth.

Aba took over the cutting and serving of the meat while Ki'Rah served the ale to the women who came over for their men.

Helgara picked up a loaded plate and cup of mead for her own husband, she glided with a grace despite her size over to where the Chief and new Champion still talking with some of the other elders of the tribe.

She carefully knelt in front of the Chief, her husband, and gave him what she had brought. Tralog smiled fondly at the mother of his children, she smiled back before looking to their new champion. "Well done Moon Dark" she said quietly so as to not be overheard. Seeing Felrigga leaning closer to try to catch her words she added a little louder "your wife has been a wonderful help I hope the ancestors bless the pair of you soon with strong children". She knew from his skills and build and from Kesha's fire that their sons would be formidable warriors.

Kesha was watching as was Felrigga, both women wondering what the head woman was saying to the new champion. Ki'Rah had seen the looks Felrigga was sending her boss's way and she didn't like them she figured sooner rather than later she'd have to do something about her before she lost face with the other women of the tribe.

When the men were all served Aba and Ki'Rah moved to sit on their furs with their own meals. They both had cups of the sweet mead that Helgara specialised in, it wasn't strong by Ki'Rah's tastes but it did taste delicious. Ki thought she'd have to get the recipe so she could program it into the replicator when she got back to the Claymore which was currently hovering in space far above the planet waiting on news from the Commando.

Ki sat and talked with the women, Helgara came back and joined them. Ki had rearranged her furs into what she hoped would be a more comfortable position for the poor woman.


	3. Chapter 3

Co-written with Ar-Kaos.

* * *

In the Lodge things steadily became more rowdy as the overly sweet drinks continued to flow. In his place next to the chief Chris tried hard to hide his dislike for the stuff, using every effort of will he had to pretend it tasted like even the roughest of whiskies from home.

But in the end the drinks were less important than the drinking, this was why he had taken the risk of coming to the camp, of making himself obvious, because this place was a crossroads, the meeting place of over a dozen roads and riverways through which all travelling this side of the mountains had to travel sooner or later. More importantly though for all the passers by there still were not that many new faces each season and those that did happen through were remembered. To find his quarry this was the natural place to start.

It was his hope that the quarry he and his team were chasing would have been forced to stop over here, to inadvertently leave some trace of their passing in the recollection of the tribesfolk. All he needed to do was find some way to get them to talk about it.

So as the minstrel asked for a tune Chris asked for one, loudly ordering a song of the god Furneus, patron of the four winds. He needed everyone's minds centred, focused on the people that had come through, perhaps something would turn up and he could get back to a land where they knew how to make real drink.

"My lord finds something not to his taste?" asked the dulcet tones of a suddenly appeared blond. He remembered some one introducing her, Felrigga or something close, and more than that knew her type. Even if the way she bowed and the way she looked at him through her eyelashes was not making it obvious enough he knew she would happily share his bed this night.

For the briefest of moments he considered it, if only to piss Ki'Rah off. But then he was having quite enough fun watching her eyes as she knelt and served him, pushing it any further would be less than wise. The two of them had a very strained relationship, she acknowledging his superior rank if not superior skill and he acknowledging that she had some ability if not admitting exactly how much.

"Only blondes" he replied loud enough to be overheard by most of the longbeards close to the chief. He didn't know which part he enjoyed more the approving laugh that rippled through the crowd or the shock and shame on the scheming ball buster's face.

Which might be why he pulled the returning Ki'Rah onto his lap for a kiss, just to add insult to injury. But then again it might also have been the drink.

It took every effort of will Ki had not to kill him there and then and to return the kiss making it look good as everyone was watching them especially, she noted with a hint of pleasure, Felrigga who scowled at her. It seemed that she would have to do something about her sooner than she thought. She may have been smiling but it didn't reach her dark eyes.

She wouldn't be the first spec ops person to have cracked in a mission and killed one of their team. Missions like this which relied on deep undercover work could be very difficult for all people involved. So far he hadn't treated her as the piece of property that the men of this world did but that was still almost more than she could stand.

She saw that his mug was empty and squirmed off his lap using it as an excuse to leave. She picked up the mug and padded over to where she could refill it. Once refilled she took it back over to him she had just placed it by his side when Helgara signalled her over. She left not happy that Felrigga was still hanging around him but it was none of her business if she bedded him.

Felrigga scowled at the retreating back of Kesha she turned back to Moon Dark "my Lord I don't know why you put up with her defiance and she hasn't even bared you any children" she said in her best velvet voice using the fact Kesha hadn't knelt before him to give him is mug to full advantage.

She was rapidly coming up with a way to get rid of the one thing standing in her way of getting her hands on this fantastic specimen of a man in front of her. She would give up everything she had built to have him. She was sure that if he spent one night with her he wouldn't want his pitiful excuse for a wife anymore. Then she could see the woman beaten out of the tribe, she really liked that idea.

Meanwhile Ki'Rah sat down beside Helgara and Aba. Aba held out the slippers she had been making for Kesha. They were a simple design but looked good, they were a pale blue colour and so soft. Ki smiled "thankyou Aba" she really liked the slippers so she switched them for the ones she had on.

Helgara was watching Felrigga "you are going to have to challenge her to Ta'macla before the other girls think they can try to take your husband" she said worried. She never liked it when Ta'macla the ritual fight between two women happened but she had to admit that Felrigga was nothing but trouble.

"You'd have thought she'd have had enough of men after what that stranger got up to with her" Aba commented idly.

"Oh?" Ki said nonchalantly making it sound like she wanted more gossip about Felrigga than the stranger.

Helgara chuckled "he had her on her back almost from the moment his group arrive until they left, she could barely walk when he left".

At Ki's grin Aba elaborated. "You see it was about three weeks before you arrived a group of four men arrived during a bad storm, three men had dark hair, they were all big like you man but the smaller red haired one seemed to be their leader. He was the one that occupied Felrigga for the three days they stayed something about him made my skin crawl maybe it was his mismatched eyes or maybe it was the scar that ran across his throat" Aba explained.

Ki'Rah grinned "seems she doesn't care who she shares her bed with" she chuckled. But inside she was thinking that they had a lead on those they were after. "Do you know where they went maybe we could get them to come distract her away from my husband?" She asked.

"They went North but they wouldn't have gotten far before the snows set in" Helgara said laughing thinking Ki's question to be innocent.

Ki'Rah smiled then they weren't far behind them, she had to tell her CO but now wasn't a good time or place she'd have to wait until after they had gone to bed. If he wasn't too drunk by then she thought.

"Why?" Moon Dark replied, his face curling into a mocking smile, "because if you think she is wild now, you should hear what she like under the furs!" the retort brought a wave of laughter form down the room, men and women sharing a fairly earthy sense of humour apparently. "And besides with a tongue like that" he continued, "I can be sure that I will never have to kill a friend for bedding her.  
Friends are important things" another ripple of laughter spread. "You should see her mother" he continued, "my father had two pieces of wisdom for me, 'Son' he said 'never marry a woman with a pretty face, marry one with a snarl, they'll all end up that way sooner or later at least that way you know what to expect in the mornings' but more importantly" he continued, "he said 'and always look at their mother first, you may marry the daughter but put a few buns in the oven and a couple of pounds on the hips and sure as hell you'll have married the mother too"

"Now the boss here, he obviously knew my Papa" Moondark added, nodding towards the headman, "you only have to look once at the beauty he married to know that!" he announced, raising his goblet to encourage the cheer that followed, a cheer that caused both headman and wife to beam with more than a little pride.

The chief was one of those rare people of the culture that had both maintained his post and never compromised with the choice of who he had married. Even to this day he was very obviously in love with the woman and despite the lack of surviving heirs very few ever called for her to be replaced. The last one who did had been pushing up flowers for more than a short while.

The jokes continued for some time, crude speculations on the way a man should chose a wife, and just how many of her family he should 'try out' first. But Moon Dark's part in it was done and he had once more returned to quietly talking with the old men around him.

"He's fallen hard" the old woman said suddenly to Kesha, her voice carrying the backing of her age, "and he's a good one too, underneath all that" She had seen the colour come to Kesha's cheeks at the man's 'revelations' of her marital prowess, and had seen the way the two of them spent a lot of time seeking out each other's eyes, talking without words. "You'll have fine children" she enthused and Kesha had just enough time to start formulating a reply when she went on, "Just as long as you give him some Iliasha root when he comes to bed!" she chortled, "Puts the hardwood in his spear!"

Soon the women too were laughing, their own earthy banter flying back and forth, making the younger ones colour and the older laugh all the harder.

And across the smoky room Chris found Ki's eyes, lifting the cup she gave him and offering her a smile that was only for her.

She was still fuming despite the banter, she knew it was good for their cover but it didn't mean she had to like it and she had no intention of going anywhere near his spear. She toyed with the idea of just falling asleep here but she knew that would just cause talk of the wrong kind.

She knew Helgara was very wrong about him, he could barely stand her. It was obvious from his behaviour but she had to admit he was a good actor. She caught him looking at her over the darkened room.

The evening broke up and slowly the couples paired off, husbands and wives drawing the furs around themselves as they got comfortable in the long house. In this age there was little privacy, and little expectation of it, polite feigned ignorance providing what walls could not.

As Kesha was nagged-bustled away form the knot of older and widowed women she had little choice but to go to her 'husband,' the encouragement of her little council still sounding in her ears. On the way she was stopped by the headwoman, who winked and pressed some reddish herb into her hand, "Iliasha root" she whispered conspiratorially, nearly causing another flush of colour through Kesha's cheeks. She told herself it was anger, resentment and was sticking to that story, sticking hard.

When she arrived she found the rather comical sight of Felrigga desperately trying to wake the apparently oblivious Moon with clear intentions to play the cuckoo. Only apparently the man had drunken himself into such a stupor that even the attempted ministrations of the blond (ones that were repeatedly thwarted by an unconscious shift in position or a yawn at just the wrong moment).

When Felrigga caught sight of Kesha she made one last attempt to plant a hot kiss on the man, only to instead find her face assaulted with a loud, unfettered, beery belch. It was too much for the blond who fled, once more in a furious temper.

If she had stayed she might have caught the very rapid flicker of his eyelid as he checked he was now alone and the amused chuckle as he settled in some more.

She added her furs to his pile; she slipped off her new slippers and moved under their furs where she undressed and snuggled under them. She knew she would have to challenge Felrigga tomorrow and try to beat her without looking too good. Luckily although she had the Brak'lul her blood was a darker red than humans, not the purple of a full blood Klingon.

He reached put and with steel like arms drew her closer to him, apparently in some drunken amorous stupor, but in fact as both of them knew he had taken an antidote to the alcohol hours ago and was probably not even marginally tipsy.

"You found something out?" he enquired in Klingon, the words masquerading as sweet nothings as her body found his under the furs.

"Yes" she whispered back in Klingon "and if you don't watch where you are putting your hands you'll lost them" she threatened.

"They were here three weeks ago, went north but probably didn't get far as the snows started" she reported acting the part and wrapping her arms grudgingly around him.

He pretended to nuzzle into her neck and shifted just a little to make sure that certain parts of him weren't in easy kneeing distance just in case. "Nothing could be further from my mind Lieutenant!" he replied, "frostbite isn't exactly in this year" he replied, maybe protesting a little more than was entirely necessary

"Then Sir I suggest we get some sleep" she suggested a little too firmly perhaps. The sooner this mission was over the better she thought. She had decided she was spending way too much time up close and personal with her CO for her liking.

"Agreed" he replied, "but.." he finished, dragging her back in closer with a look in his eyes that told her he knew exactly how much it annoyed her, "we had better make sure it looks good for the morning" he finished, just daring her to break cover and slap him.

"Pah most are too drunk or busy to notice" she said flatly her eyes telling him exactly what she thought of that idea.

"Hush" he ordered, not wanting to delve too deeply into why he was insisting, "sleep." he ordered again, "you have a long day serving tomorrow" he added, his eyes already closing as he added one last tease.

She growled and rolled over curling into a ball under their furs. She lay awake for a while listening to the different sounds around her. A baby crying, a mother soothing it, couples affirming their love for each other, others talking softly so not to disturb those that slept. She wondered at a life as simple as this but she knew she would not be able to stand it for long even if she had a bedmate she liked not hated. She was a warrior; she needed to feel the rush of adrenaline she got when charging into battle. She hated not being able to train fearing her skills were rusting away with her muscles.


End file.
